SUNDAY AUGUST 1, 2021
8:00-9:00 pm Japan Time

coming home far from home: meet the memoir writer’s series II

Interview with Rebecca Otowa, author of AT HOME IN JAPAN, hosted by Goshen Books

Free and open to the public

To reserve your spot: hello@goshenbooks.com

(The following originally appeared on the Goshen Books website)

Rebecca Otowa was born in 1955 in California, and at age 12 moved to Australia with her family. After graduating BA (Hons. Japanese Language and Literature) from Queensland University, she received a scholarship to study in Japan and went to Kyoto in 1978, abandoning her first preoccupation, orchestral music. She graduated MA (Japanese Buddhism) from Otani University and thereafter never left Japan.

While a student, she met Toshiro Otowa, an engineering student who was besotted by Australia, and with each other’s culture as a bond, they started dating and were married in 1981.

In 1986 the little family, which now included two sons, moved back to his ancestral home in Shiga Prefecture, adjacent to Kyoto, and set up housekeeping with his mother. Rebecca has lived there ever since, writing, drawing, teaching English, working in her garden, and participating in various local groups.

To date she has published three books, At Home in Japan (essays, Tuttle 2010), My Awesome Japan Adventure (children’s book, Tuttle 2013) and The Mad Kyoto Shoe Swapper (short stories, Tuttle 2019). All are illustrated by the author. She has also painted over 50 pictures of various genres, and held 2 shows (2015 and 2019).

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To learn about the artwork of Rebecca, see this page.
For the report of a lunch talk by Rebecca, click here.